Irwin ex rel. Simpson v. Reed

Decided July 15, 1808

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · decided 1808-07-15

The cause was tried at Sunbury, on the nth October 1804, before Shippen, late C. J. and Brackenejdge, J., and a verdict passed for the defendants. The court overruled a motion for a new trial. The ground of appeal was, that the court had refused in evidence, the depositions of Jeremiah and Jesse Simpson, taken under a rule of court pending the suit, during the life time of their father, John Simpson, the cestui que use.

Cited in Abbott (1879)’s definition of “Next”

Decided 1808-07-15

By the Court.

¶1The testimony offered was clearly inadmissible as evidence, under adjudged cases, for the reasons which have been offered by the counsel for the defendants. We are obliged to proceed by the common law rules of evidence, however hard they may appear in a particular case. Upon the same principle of chancery practice, that these depositions were urged on the court, a party may insist on examining the defendants upon oath, and fully purge his conscience. This has never been done in Pennsylvania, and we cannot now set the precedent.

¶2Judgment affirmed.